We lay the blame on it whenever pain assails us—
be it a griping colic or a bitter quarrel;
but we drink it, and it leaves us kings,
lions no encounter can restrain.
Perish our horses if you do not behold them
raising clouds of dust, their tryst at Kaddāʾ;
struggling with the reins, ears alert,
on their shoulders spears athirst for blood.
All day our chargers shower foam,
while the women strike them with their veils.
So if you turn away from us, we shall make ʿumrah—
the victory will come and the covering be removed.
Otherwise, brace yourselves for the clash of a day
on which God will exalt whom He wills.
Gabriel, God’s envoy, is among us,
the Holy Spirit—there is no peer for him.
God has said: “I have sent a servant
who speaks the truth, if affliction can avail.”
I bore witness to him—rise, then, and believe—
but you replied: “We will neither rise nor comply.”
God also said: “I have deployed an army—
the Helpers—ever ready for the fray.”
Each day with the sons of Maʿadd
we trade abuse, or clash in arms, or wield satire.
We pass judgment with our verses on whoever reviles us,
and we strike when bloods are commingled.
Carry, then, to Abū Sufyān a swift message from me—
concealment has vanished at last:
our swords have left you a mere slave,
and in ʿAbd al-Dār the slave girls rule their lords.
You lampooned Muḥammad, and I replied for him;
with God lies the recompense for that.
Do you revile him when you are no match for him?
Your evil shall be ransomed for his good.
You maligned one who is blessed, devout, upright—
God’s trusted one, whose very trait is loyalty.
Can he who reviles God’s Messenger
be equal to one who praises and defends him?
My father, his father, and my honor
are a shield for Muḥammad’s honor against you.
My tongue is a flawless sword,
and my sea no bucket can muddy.
Ibn Hishām remarks (1): Ḥassān composed these verses before the Conquest.
I say: What he stated is correct, for the poem itself contains indications to that effect. The Abū Sufyān mentioned in the verse is Abū Sufyān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib.
Ibn Hishām adds (2): I was told by al-Zuhrī that when the Messenger of God ﷺ saw the women striking the horses with their veils, he smiled at Abū Bakr, may God be pleased with him.